JAM: April/May 2003 Issue: Hampton's Hot Licks

Dean Hampton

Recording Industry Falls Short
Remember when you first started seeing the new breed of cars from Japan? Detroit acted like they were tin cans and said the trend toward buying them would never last.

But US automakers forgot to look at the highways where early buying surges were proving them wrong.

Likewise, the major recording labels in the music industry waited too long to see the writing on the wall. With sales of recordings down dramatically last year (about 10%) as in the two previous years, it will take a nearly impossible change in direction to save the recording industry. And if that happens, it will not be by doing business as usual.

In 2002, sales of blank CDs outsold pre-recorded CDs. Granted, a portion were used for non-music related data. But most were used to burn music CDs, and a huge number replaced sales at record stores like Wherehouse, which has recently filed bankruptcy for the second time. Tower Records and Musicland also continue to close retail outlets.

Napster is gone but there are at least a dozen other peer-to-peer file sharing operations on the Internet today. Kazaa reports on their web site that over 200 million people have downloaded their software and are using it to grab free copies of music, audio books and videos. Online subscription services are popping up regularly. Emusic.com, for example, allows you to take all of the music you want from their site for as little as $9.99 per month. Rhapsody (listen.com) advertises "the largest collection of legal music in the world" ...all waiting just for you. Listen online, download and burn your CDs.

About the only things you can be sure of in the industry today are: 1) MP3 (or better) is here to stay; 2) file sharing is also here to stay and growing (despite many legal battles in the works); and, 3) even those who buy albums will likely preview them online for free.

Mister Rogers
On February 27, Jim Clark, Jazz Music Director and Host on the South Dakota Public Radio Network, Vermillion, South Dakota, played selections from the 1985 album, Johnny Costa Plays Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Jazz. The album was produced by the late Fred Rogers and Costa, a fine jazz pianist, who was the long-time music director of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." Clark wrote to the Jazz Programmer's List, "Jazz fans ought to take time to watch reruns of the show every now and then. Costa's piano arrangements for children's songs have a definite jazz flair, and Rogers -- also a gifted pianist and composer -- stayed away from a trendy pop and rock 'n roll approach. It's not farfetched to suggest that 'Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood' introduced the three- and four-year-old set to a kind of jazz music sensibility, subtle and light ... but there all the same. Children of all ages will miss him dearly."

"Cool Edit" Those Old LPs & Tapes
There's a good chance you have a stack of great old LPs that you seldom listen to anymore. Some are not yet available on CD reissues and may never be. There is a solution.

For Windows computer users, Syntrillium's Cool Edit 2000 will let you move the music from your turntable or tape player to your computer and actually enhance the quality while doing so. It has all of the features you need to edit your audio and process it the way you like including: reverb, echo, compression, stretch, noise reduction, support for DVD-quality (24-bit/96 kHz) recording and playback, powerful analysis features, and much more. You can pick any of more than a dozen file formats, including MP3. Also included are five optional plug-ins: the Studio Plug-In adds a 4-track mixing studio; the Audio Clean-up Plug-In adds professional-quality audio restoration tools; the Pro EQ Plug-In gives you total equalization control, the Phat Pack Plug-In adds four pumping effects; the Tweakin' Toys Plug-In adds four more professional effects. Cool Edit 2000 goes for around $70.

Tune Title Fun
It's always fun to play with tune titles and lyrics. Recent emails from my jazz doctor friend in Pensacola, FL, Norman Vickers (Jazz Society of Pensacola) included a number of his favorite title changes. He calls them "Songs From the Hospital Hit Parade -- Riffing on a Body Part." A few samples: "I'll be Sewing You," "Red Cells in the Sunset," "It Had to Be Flu," "Gonna Take a Sentimental Gurney," and "Old Man's Liver." Since receiving his initial list, many other recipients have added to the fun. These are too good to just let go into the email trash bin, so I have added them to one of my web pages. Enjoy the song title play at: http://webjazz.net/songtitleplay.html

Our Message Board...
If you would like to let the KC jazz community know what you think, or find out something that you don't know, visit our online Message Board. You may be surprised at some of the conversations that land on our pages. On the front page of our site, just click on the "Msg Board" button at the top of the page. The KCJA web site is at: http://www.jazzkc.org/

...and the Jazz Hotline
We recently checked the effectiveness of our Jazz Hotline (816-753-5277) and were pleased to find that a lot of you are calling to find out what's going on where for the week. If you don't currently use the Jazz Hotline, write the number down and take it with you. Or, better yet, program it into your cellular phone for easy access when you need to find that special spot for the night.






	Search our site:		Dean Hampton Recording Industry Falls Short Remember when you first started seeing the new breed of cars from Japan? Detroit acted like they were tin cans and said the trend toward buying them would never last. But US automakers forgot to look at the highways where early buying surges were proving them wrong. Likewise, the major recording labels in the music industry waited too long to see the writing on the wall. With sales of recordings down dramatically last year (about 10%) as in the two previous years, it will take a nearly impossible change in direction to save the recording industry. And if that happens, it will not be by doing business as usual. In 2002, sales of blank CDs outsold pre-recorded CDs. Granted, a portion were used for non-music related data. But most were used to burn music CDs, and a huge number replaced sales at record stores like Wherehouse, which has recently filed bankruptcy for the second time. Tower Records and Musicland also continue to close retail outlets. Napster is gone but there are at least a dozen other peer-to-peer file sharing operations on the Internet today. Kazaa reports on their web site that over 200 million people have downloaded their software and are using it to grab free copies of music, audio books and videos. Online subscription services are popping up regularly. Emusic.com, for example, allows you to take all of the music you want from their site for as little as $9.99 per month. Rhapsody (listen.com) advertises "the largest collection of legal music in the world" ...all waiting just for you. Listen online, download and burn your CDs. About the only things you can be sure of in the industry today are: 1) MP3 (or better) is here to stay; 2) file sharing is also here to stay and growing (despite many legal battles in the works); and, 3) even those who buy albums will likely preview them online for free. Mister Rogers On February 27, Jim Clark, Jazz Music Director and Host on the South Dakota Public Radio Network, Vermillion, South Dakota, played selections from the 1985 album, *Johnny Costa Plays Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Jazz. The album was produced by the late Fred Rogers* and Costa, a fine jazz pianist, who was the long-time music director of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." Clark wrote to the Jazz Programmer's List, "Jazz fans ought to take time to watch reruns of the show every now and then. Costa's piano arrangements for children's songs have a definite jazz flair, and Rogers -- also a gifted pianist and composer -- stayed away from a trendy pop and rock 'n roll approach. It's not farfetched to suggest that 'Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood' introduced the three- and four-year-old set to a kind of jazz music sensibility, subtle and light ... but there all the same. Children of all ages will miss him dearly." "Cool Edit" Those Old LPs & Tapes There's a good chance you have a stack of great old LPs that you seldom listen to anymore. Some are not yet available on CD reissues and may never be. There is a solution. For Windows computer users, Syntrillium's Cool Edit 2000 will let you move the music from your turntable or tape player to your computer and actually enhance the quality while doing so. It has all of the features you need to edit your audio and process it the way you like including: reverb, echo, compression, stretch, noise reduction, support for DVD-quality (24-bit/96 kHz) recording and playback, powerful analysis features, and much more. You can pick any of more than a dozen file formats, including MP3. Also included are five optional plug-ins: the Studio Plug-In adds a 4-track mixing studio; the Audio Clean-up Plug-In adds professional-quality audio restoration tools; the Pro EQ Plug-In gives you total equalization control, the Phat Pack Plug-In adds four pumping effects; the Tweakin' Toys Plug-In adds four more professional effects. Cool Edit 2000 goes for around $70. Tune Title Fun It's always fun to play with tune titles and lyrics. Recent emails from my jazz doctor friend in Pensacola, FL, Norman Vickers (Jazz Society of Pensacola) included a number of his favorite title changes. He calls them "Songs From the Hospital Hit Parade -- Riffing on a Body Part." A few samples: "I'll be Sewing You," "Red Cells in the Sunset," "It Had to Be Flu," "Gonna Take a Sentimental Gurney," and "Old Man's Liver." Since receiving his initial list, many other recipients have added to the fun. These are too good to just let go into the email trash bin, so I have added them to one of my web pages. Enjoy the song title play at: http://webjazz.net/songtitleplay.html Our Message Board... If you would like to let the KC jazz community know what you think, or find out something that you don't know, visit our online Message Board. You may be surprised at some of the conversations that land on our pages. On the front page of our site, just click on the "Msg Board" button at the top of the page. The KCJA web site is at: http://www.jazzkc.org/ ...and the Jazz Hotline We recently checked the effectiveness of our Jazz Hotline (816-753-5277) and were pleased to find that a lot of you are calling to find out what's going on where for the week. If you don't currently use the Jazz Hotline, write the number down and take it with you. Or, better yet, program it into your cellular phone for easy access when you need to find that special spot for the night. Dean Hampton has been the KCJA's Director of Publications since 1990. 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